Summer #Giveaway Hop : Make Believe #Fantasy #PNR

Thanks to I Am A Reader and BookHounds for hosting this giveaway! As usual, I'm going to use this giveaway to help promote a J. Taylor Publishing book. This one just happens to include ... ME!

Who ISN'T sick of this stinkin' heat yet??? In total defiance of summer, I'm offering a copy of Make Believe, a 6 story anthology based on a picture prompt which is the cover.

All that snow looks refreshing doesn't it?? Let's see what it's all about ...

Make Believe

by J.A. Belfield, Jennifer M. Eaton, J. Keller Ford, Terri Rochenski, Kelly Said, Lynda R. Young

Release Date: December 3, 2012

Target Reader: Adult

Keywords: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Romance

Sacrificial Oath by Terri Rochenski
An impetuous act unwittingly makes Alesuela the fulfillment of the Sovereign’s Blood Oath to their Goddess. In five days, she’ll be forced to make the greatest choice of her life: become the virginal sacrifice already promised, or force the man she loves most to die in her place.

With an impossible choice in front of her, she searches for ways to undo the oath, and in her quest, finds not everything in her life is as she expects.

The Amulet of Ormisez by J. Keller Ford
There is only one way to save Elton Fletcher’s brother from an insanity-ridden death.
After years away from home, fighting for his people, Elton returns to discover his only sibling, Cayden, possessed by greed and malice, and responsible for malicious, unthinkable deeds. Cayden, though, isn’t the only one afflicted by the Amulet of Ormisez, and Elton finds himself in yet another battle, where the price of failure could be his own life.

Birthright by Lynda R. Young
Christa can mask the pain and hide the scars, but running from a birthright is impossible.
She’s tried to escape her grief by fleeing to a small town in Florida. Much to her frustration, the locals think they recognize her even though she's never been there before. To make things worse, a man named Jack spouts outrageous theories about her.
Both spur Christa to bolt, to start fresh yet again, but there’s something about Jack that intrigues her enough to stay. The only problem? Someone else wants her to leave, and they won’t stop until she’s dead.

Petrified by Kelly Said
A mysterious storm has replaced summer with winter, devastating crops and smothering Castle lands in snow. Prince Sterling August stands alone as a leader, lost in personal grief as well as a desire to help his people but with an inability to do either.

The answers he needs await him, but without Lochlyn, a woman who’s just as isolated as Sterling, he’ll never see what stands before him, cloaked in illusion.

Last Winter Red by Jennifer M. Eaton
Emily is a Red, a woman whose sole purpose in life is to produce offspring. When her husband dies and leaves her childless, she risks her life and forsakes the safety of Terra—a disease-free city born after the nuclear holocaust. Beyond its boundaries, she knows, survives a man with whom she can be properly paired.

The Outside, though, holds secrets the government struggles to keep, and what Emily discovers on her quest for a mate will change her life forever.

Escort to Insanity by J.A. Belfield
From a charity auction, to a stroll in the park, to the craziest night of her life. Nicole Harrington can’t help but wonder how a simple event went so drastically wrong.

Of course, the male escort she booked is wholly to blame. Not only charming but shrewdly intelligent, Benjamin Gold drags Nicole into a platoon of unimaginable problems—ones from which she’ll have to find the courage just to survive.

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Be sure to check out the linky list below of other participating blogs.

Best of luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#WWW : Denise Moncrief on #Editing #WritersLife

I'm excited to have Denise Moncrief here today as part of her Crisis of Identity Tour. She's going to share a smidge about her thoughts on the bane of my existence ...

Editing.

Click on the tour button for a list of her scheduled stops and a chance to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card

Take it away Denise!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a confession to make. Editing puts me to sleep. Seriously. Sometimes I’m in the middle of self-editing my manuscript—my baby—when boom! My head hits the keyboard. It’s embarrassing, but you know, I’ve read the story sooo many times is it any wonder my mind is wandering.

One day the nodding off scared me. My mind hyperventilated—started popping out questions about my writing prowess. Like…Why am I falling asleep? What if my book is THAT boring? What’s wrong with the plot? Is it not fast-paced enough? Are the plot devices trite and overused? Are the characters unrealistic?

When my heart rate finally slowed, I realized the plot didn’t bore me. No! My muse and I created the story with loving care, blood, sweat, and tears. Okay, maybe no blood, but there were a few tears. It had to be editing. Yeah, I’ll blame it on editing.

Writing a fresh story is fun. The characters practically create themselves. The conflict forms out of their personalities and their choices. The dialogue flows as I hear in my head what someone would say and how they would say it. The plot thickens at just the right time. I love writing.

I don’t love self-editing. I work with a wonderful editor, but my goal is to have my manuscript as shiny as possible before I submit it to my publisher. I want my editor to buff and polish, not do major surgery on the heart of the book.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about self-editing. No worries, this isn’t going to get technical with a dry list of the Unbendable Unbreakable Rules For Aspiring Writers.

No matter how many times I’ve edited a manuscript, I can always find something else to “fix”.

I’ve obsessed over passive voice, verb tense, POV head hops, filtering, showing vs. telling, and the bane of my existence, comma placement. But no matter how many times I’ve gone over my story, I can always find an omitted word. And homonyms? Argh. Similarly spelled or similar sounding words will do me in. The first draft is a very rough draft. Every time I learn a new concept, the added knowledge requires another review of my manuscripts.

Self-editing is a structured, and therefore, a highly redundant process.

I find it overwhelming to tackle the abundance of concepts I should remember when I’m editing a manuscript, so I have to have a plan. I’ve started going through my stories in several passes. In the first pass, I check for grammar and punctuation. I let the manuscript “rest” for a while and then in the second pass, I check for consistency and plot continuity. In the third pass, I look for redundancy, filtering, head pops, and telling. On my next but not necessarily my last pass, I read the story aloud to someone, checking for flow, credibility, and glaring inconsistencies.

This creates a lot of repetition. By the time I work through it this often, I know my story so well I can quote it in my sleep.

Edits should never be attempted at the time of day when I’m most susceptible to falling asleep.

No, it isn’t midnight. I don’t know what it is about editing in the afternoon that makes my eyelids droop and my mouth stretch into a wide yawn. The same thing will happen if I try to read in the afternoon, so it’s not just my stories. Thank goodness.

My most productive time of day is…well, right now. It’s 10:44 pm CDT and I’m churning out this blog post without a single yawn or drooping eyelid. Editing at three in the afternoon? I should know better. I’ve learned to give it up and watch another episode of CSI:Miami on Netflix. At just about nineish, either my editing conscience will kick in or my muse will jump up and down in front of my face and I’ll grab my Mac and tear up the keyboard.

When I discover a new concept in generally accepted writing style, I shouldn’t knee-jerk and start editing every unsubmitted manuscript on my hard drive.

When I first discovered the concept of POV and head hopping, I dusted off all fifteen of my unpublished manuscripts and went to work. It was painful, because after that I discovered the concept of showing vs. telling and the process started again. Then I heard the term filtering for the first time…

Well, you get the idea. Now I work one manuscript at a time. After all, I can only submit one at a time. Right? Two at the most. If both stories were contracted at the same time, then there would be all those edits at the same time and then…

I truly believe the editing phase of a WIP is where most writers give up. I don’t love editing and I don’t love falling asleep in the midst of it. Self-editing is a necessary process and one a writer should embrace with determination and persistence. As a writer I want my finished product to be the best it can be, but I can’t do what I need to do effectively if I’m half-asleep. So…If I start dozing, somebody wake me up and pour me a cup of coffee.

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Click on image to add on Goodreads

Tess Copeland is an operator. Her motto? Necessity is the mother of a good con. When Hurricane Irving slams into the Texas Gulf coast, Tess seizes the opportunity to escape her past by hijacking a dead woman’s life, but Shelby Coleman’s was the wrong identity to steal. And the cop that trails her? He’s a U.S. Marshall with the Fugitive Task Force for the northern district of Illinois. Tess left Chicago because the criminal justice system gave her no choice. Now she’s on the run from ghosts of misdeeds past—both hers and Shelby’s.

Enter Trevor Smith, a pseudo-cowboy from Houston, Texas, with good looks, a quick tongue, and testosterone poisoning. Will Tess succumb to his questionable charms and become his damsel in distress? She doesn’t have to faint at his feet—she’s capable of handling just about anything. But will she choose to let Trevor be the man? When Tess kidnaps her niece, her life changes. She must make some hard decisions. Does she trust the lawman that promises her redemption, or does she trust the cowboy that promises her nothing but himself?

Purchase Links:

5 Prince Publishing  /  Amazon  /  Smash Words
iTunes  /  Barnes & Noble

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Denise wrote her first story when she was in high school—seventeen hand-written pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she read. She earned a degree in accounting, giving her some nice skills to earn a little money, but her passion has always been writing. She has written numerous short stories and more than a few full-length novels. Her favorite pastimes when she’s not writing are spending time with her family, traveling, reading, and scrapbooking. She lives in Louisiana with her husband, two children, and one very chubby dog.

Links:

  

Website: www.denisemoncrief.com

Blog: www.denisemoncrief.blogspot.com

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DeniseMoncriefAuthor

Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5818900.Denise_Moncrief

Twitter: www.twitter.com/dmoncrief0131

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Denise-Moncrief/e/B007Y6Z1CU

#CoverReveal : Beasts of Burdin by Alexander Nader #UF

I was thrilled when Alex Nader joined the J. Taylor Publishing team. Why? Cuz he's hilarious, likable, & a team player. Check out his mug shot ...

How can you NOT like him??

But I won't embarrass him further. Let's see the purdy...

Click on image to add on Goodreads

Beasts of Burdin

Beasts of Burdin

by Alexander Nader

Release Date: February 10, 2014

Target Reader: Adult

Keywords: Urban Fantasy

 

Demon hunter Ty Burdin hung up his guns, knife, trench coat and fedora a year ago. Bags packed, hands washed of all demon politics, he’s done. Forever.

In fact, to get far far away, he dragged Nora, his rockabilly secretary, from Miami to the Tennessee mountains where he’s lived a life of peace—if peace can be defined as drowning in scotch and taking private eye jobs to keep the lights on. Jobs for real people. Not demons.

No demons.

He’s retired from that. Remember?

Demon hunters aren’t a dime a dozen, though, and when Ty’s brother asks him for a favor—just one—what’s a brother to do? Agreeing to take down one hillbilly demon shouldn’t take that long. In. Decapitate. Out. Favor complete. Back to the office where Nora and his bottle of whiskey are waiting.

Unfortunately for Ty, staying retired doesn’t seem to be in the cards, and an avalanche of bad luck draws him right back to an agency he despises and the career that nearly cost him his sanity.

This time, Ty has no way out and will have to face his own demons just to survive.

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I'm loving the defeated look of poor Ty. Definitely makes me want to get inside his head.

And that hand? What the heck???

Look like a book you'd pick up? 

Blog Tour: The Hero's Lot #GuestPost by Patrick W. Carr #Fantasy #Giveaway

Tour Schedule

The Hero's Lot

Riveting Sequel from Christian Fantasy's Most Talented New Voice.

When Sarin Valon, the corrupt secondus of the conclave, flees Erinon and the kingdom, Errol Stone believes his troubles have at last ended. But other forces bent on the destruction of the kingdom remain and conspire to accuse Errol and his friends of a conspiracy to usurp the throne.

In a bid to keep the three of them from the axe, Archbenefice Canon sends Martin and Luis to Errol's home village, Callowford, to discover what makes him so important to the kingdom. But Errol is also accused of consorting with spirits. Convicted, his punishment is a journey to the enemy kingdom of Merakh, where he must find Sarin Valon, and kill him. To enforce their sentence, Errol is placed under a compulsion, and he is driven to accomplish his task or die resisting.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

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My Review

I’ve been dying for this book since I gobbled up the first, A Cast of Stones, back in January. You can find my 5 star review HERE.

In book one we were introduced to Errol Stone, a young village drunk, who as typically in fantasy stories goes on to be some one of great importance to the kingdom. I’m not a fan of giving plot points away in reviews, so I’ll just say that Mr. Carr wove the story in a fresh, new way that had me clicking away on my kindle until ‘The End’. Couldn’t get enough of his character, of the young man’s plight, and his flight across the country.

In The Hero's Lot, Mr. Carr once again takes the reader into a well thought out world, one full of intrigue and details to create and roll a movie though the mind. Without fluff or purple prose, Errol’s country comes alive. The characters are consistent and more than one tugs on the heart strings.

On occasion, fantasy sequels bring about one problem after another in order to make up a series, often feeling forced. Not so with The Staff and the Sword! Book two is a perfect continuation of the conflict from book one. There is a natural progression that is pleasing and comfortable for someone as nitpicky as I am.

In The Hero's Lot, the focus is on two journeys, and I have to be honest and say that Errol’s took a back seat to Martin’s, the priest, for me. The emotions Martin deals with, the choices he is confronted with moved me much more than Errol’s. Yes, our MC is once more facing danger and death, but *spoiler alert is a must here* an element of romance is brought in that fell flat and felt forced for me. There is zero emotional development between the two – nix that. There is some on the female’s side, but we’re not given enough insight into Errol’s thoughts concerning her beyond his confusion. I’ve never met a male as clueless as our Errol, and for me that’s a big believability issue, which you all know I’m a total stickler for.

For that reason, book two started out slow for me. Yes, I was interested, but I had no problem putting down my kindle when I got tired. Just wasn’t as compelling as book one until about the ¾ mark. THEN we got rolling. The problem is, is that once that climactic moment hit, there were a lot of scenes that were summed up – told in a way that lowered the tension. When a group of people are escaping death, I want to taste and feel their fear for as long as possible.

Now it could be that some scenes were skimmed over in order to keep the word count at a decent number, but I would have enjoyed this book much more had the first half been skimmed and what should have been heart-pounding ending drawn out until I sweated.

All that being said (can we tell I was woken up early this morning and only had ½ cup of coffee??) I really did enjoy this book. It is complex, well thought out, and well worth the read.

Will I read book three? I heard Mr. Carr has finished writing it, but it won’t be available soon enough in my opinion. Can’t wait.

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Guest Post

Writing in the Margins

by Patrick. W. Carr

The question, many times, is not “Where do you come up with your characters?” No, more often it is “How do you do it?” Co-workers, family, and friends stare at me, their eyes wide with disbelief as if I had some potion or technology that could somehow cheat the sweep of the second hand. I published a blog some months dispensing advice on how to write and have a full-time job. In it, I said the things most everyone would have said: manage your time, make the commitment, think like a writer, and write whenever you can, even if it’s not for very long.

To be honest, looking back a few months after penning that blog, I feel a little hypocritical. Life has a way of spinning out of control and sometimes writing has to wait. I’m sitting at my dining room table here in Nashville where day-after-day of heavy rain has revealed a leak in the roof that will have to be fixed, one of many house projects that comes with owning a home (and that I’ve ignored for too long). About a month from now I will be starting grad school in an effort to further my career as an educator. That of course reminds me that in three weeks, I will return to the classroom where I will be introducing another group of students to the joys of Geometry and Algebra.

On top of this, I have the most important duties of all: To be a husband to my incredible wife, Mary, and a father to my amazing sons, Patrick, Connor, Daniel, and Ethan. Did I mention that they’re incredible and amazing? I think they deserve a spouse and dad who is emotionally present as well as physically. Plus, they’re just a lot of fun!

Do I want to write? Oh yeah.

Will I be able to? No idea.

The truth is, my last name isn’t Rowling or Patterson or King or any of the other top writers who are successful enough to write full time. I have an idea for a detective series that I desperately want to explore, but for the next couple of years, it’s going have to compete for my time and mind share. Oh how I wish I had more time. I may have to settle for 15 minutes here or there to do a character sketch, refine a piece of an outline, or even do some actual writing. But that’s okay.

Because I remember this one guy, supposedly very bright, who wrote: For every time there is a season…

You know how the rest of it goes, but as sure as I’m writing this, things change, not always for the better, but not always for the worse either. Perhaps God and circumstance will provide an avenue that I can’t envision. I think the key is to find a balance between our passion and our patience. Now that would make a great blog, but I am so not the guy to write it.

But perhaps you could. Drop me a line. I’d love to hear how you’ve achieved the balance the two.

Author Patrick W. Carr

Patrick Carr was born on an Air Force base in West Germany at the height of the cold war. He has been told this was not his fault. As an Air Force brat, he experienced a change in locale every three years until his father retired to Tennessee. Patrick saw more of the world on his own through a varied and somewhat eclectic education and work history. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1984 and has worked as a draftsman at a nuclear plant, did design work for the Air Force, worked for a printing company, and consulted as an engineer. Patrick’s day gig for the last five years has been teaching high school math in Nashville, TN. He currently makes his home in Nashville with his wonderfully patient wife, Mary, and four sons he thinks are amazing: Patrick, Connor, Daniel, and Ethan. Sometime in the future he would like to be a jazz pianist. Patrick thinks writing about himself in the third person is kind of weird.

Website * Facebook

Blog Tour Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 8/14/13

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#Review : Frigid by J. Lynn #NA #Contemporary

Click on image to add on Goodreads

Frigid

(Frigid #1)

NA Contemporary

by J. Lynn / Jennifer L. Armentrout

For twenty-one-year-old Sydney, being in love with Kyler isn't anything new. They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love. 

Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have. 

But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.

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My Review:

Who hasn't daydreamed of that snowed-in with a hot guy in the middle of no-where-land??? Oh heck yes.

Ms. Armentrout hit this one outta the ball park, but then again rarely does she NOT get a 5 star rating from me. As usual, there is heartfelt emotion & tension galore, all wrapped up in a juicy story of girl wants boy, boy wants girl, but neither dares admit it.

The setting was perfect, the characters believable, and the addition of a little mystery went a long way in making the external conflict even more palatable.

For any who enjoy the NA genre without all the emotional, edgy crappola that seems to be so popular these days, this is a great read well worth the $!!  For me, I'm really looking forward to seeing what Ms. Lynn comes out with next for the characters in this book.

#WeeklyWriterlyWisdom : Linda Caroll-Bradd, Romance Author

Welcome to this week's WWW where fellow Wild Rose Press romance author, Linda Caroll-Bradd, will share a bit about today's marketing on freebie sites. 

Stick around after her guest post for an excerpt from her latest release, Dipping In A Toe.

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Book Promotion on Free Sites

In today’s book market, even more than a year or two ago, authors must put in a significant amount of time to promote their titles. Used to be an author only needed a website. Then reader interest went to blogs where the author was expected to be entertaining and share more personal information. In some instances, authors banded together and created group blogs to capitalize on cross-promotion opportunities.

 Next stage was creating an identity on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, reddIt, Tumblr—and undoubtedly more that I haven’t heard of). Articles presented by various experts on social media warn about trying to be everywhere and that authors should concentrate on two social media platforms and focus their energy and time there.

Every author should create an author page on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This allows readers who find one of your titles to go to one location where all your titles are listed. Another place to be established is on Goodreads. Both of these places have a maximum 24-hour delay from application to approval.

Since Thanksgiving 2012, I have had 5 titles release and learned of various places to create a specific author page. Once you’ve invested the time to create an author account on the following sites for free, you connect your individual titles with your author page and only need to return when your next title releases. Viola, another place where you have an online presence.

Specifically for sweet to sensual titles:

Classic Romance Revival      http://www.classicromancerevival.com

Story Finds                              http://storyfinds.com

For all heat level of titles:

Book Daily                              http://www.bookdaily.com

Coffeetime Romance             http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/

Manic Readers                       http://www.manicreaders.com

Romance Novel Center          http://www.romancenovelcenter.com

Story Findsx                            http://storyfindsx.com

The Romance Reviews          http://theromancereviews.com

Also, here’s a monthly newsletters where you can submit a free listing of your upcoming title

The Book Breeze                    http://www.thebookbreeze.com

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Dipping In A Toe 

Contemporary Romance

by Linda Carroll-Bradd

Jessa Landers has a secret crush on her teens’ years-younger swim coach. A widow for three years, she’s managing her life and enjoys her freedom—except for long, lonely evenings when she craves an attentive man.

Coach Rick Grant loves being a high school teacher and swim coach. Surrounded by families has him yearning for his own romantic connection—and his eye is on Jessa.

Will Jessa protect the balance of her family life, or take a second chance on love?

Purchase Links:

Amazon   /  Barnes and Noble  /  The Wild RosePress 

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Excerpt:

As if pulled by an invisible thread, my gaze went to the tall, fit man with the ever-present clipboard in one hand and a stopwatch in the other. Normally an adult wearing tropical-print board shorts and a faded surfboard tee-shirt looked like he clung with desperation onto his youth. Instead Rick Grant wore the attire like a medal of honor—like he’d earned the right to promote a Hawaiian surfing competition from a decade earlier.

Maybe he had. The image of his tan, lean body balancing on top of a surfboard flittered through my mind. I pictured him, thinner but still muscular, body sparkling with water droplets, wavy hair streaked with blonde highlights, outlined against a cerulean blue sky. A heartfelt sigh escaped.

Christy stopped to turn in her ascent up the metal bleachers, and cocked her head. “You okay, Jessa?”

Caught. I whirled toward the bleachers and set a foot on the lowest step. “I’m fine. Where do you want to sit?” Heat burned my cheeks and I ducked my head, pretending the need to focus on placing my wedge sandals on each step. I didn’t want the other mothers to learn about my pathetic infatuation with the swim coach.

An infatuation I kept telling myself was wrong. Didn’t I have enough to do between my paralegal job, keeping up the house, managing the kids’ activities, and arranging visits with their grandparents? How could I possibly add dating to this hectic lifestyle?

Even if by some wild chance the man in question were to show interest…

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About Linda Caroll-Bradd

As a child, Linda was often found lying on her bed reading about characters having exciting adventures in places far away. Upon reaching a landmark birthday, she decided to write one of those romances she loved so much. Easier said than done. Perseverance paid out and twelve years later, she received her first call from a publisher and a confession story was published. Now Linda writes heartwarming contemporary and historical stories with a touch of humor, and many have a tie to her previous home of Texas.

Linda enjoys writing from her cabin in the mountains among the cedar and pines with her husband of 34 years and their two much-loved dogs. 

Links:

Website  /  Blog  /  Goodreads  /  Facebook 

#BookBlast : The Hero's Lot by Patrick W. Carr #Giveaway #Fantasy

Click on image for tour schedule

The Hero's Lot 

The Staff and the Sword #2

Adult Fantasy

by Patrick W. Carr

Riveting Sequel from Christian Fantasy's Most Talented New Voice.

When Sarin Valon, the corrupt secondus of the conclave, flees Erinon and the kingdom, Errol Stone believes his troubles have at last ended. But other forces bent on the destruction of the kingdom remain and conspire to accuse Errol and his friends of a conspiracy to usurp the throne.

In a bid to keep the three of them from the axe, Archbenefice Canon sends Martin and Luis to Errol's home village, Callowford, to discover what makes him so important to the kingdom. But Errol is also accused of consorting with spirits. Convicted, his punishment is a journey to the enemy kingdom of Merakh, where he must find Sarin Valon, and kill him. To enforce their sentence, Errol is placed under a compulsion, and he is driven to accomplish his task or die resisting.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

A Cast of Stones

The Staff and the Sword #1

An Epic Medieval Saga Fantasy Readers Will Love.

In the backwater village of Callowford, Errol Stone's search for a drink is interrupted by a church messenger who arrives with urgent missives for the hermit priest in the hills. Desperate for coin, Errol volunteers to deliver them but soon finds himself hunted by deadly assassins. Forced to flee with the priest and a small band of travelers, Errol soon learns he's joined a quest that could change the fate of his kingdom.
Protected for millennia by the heirs of the first king, the kingdom's dynasty is near an end and a new king must be selected. As tension and danger mount, Errol must leave behind his drunkenness and grief, learn to fight, and come to know his God in order to survive a journey to discover his destiny.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble


A Cast of Stones is my favorite fantasy of 2013!!! Find my 5 Star review HERE.

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Author Patrick W. Carr

Patrick Carr was born on an Air Force base in West Germany at the height of the cold war. He has been told this was not his fault. As an Air Force brat, he experienced a change in locale every three years until his father retired to Tennessee. Patrick saw more of the world on his own through a varied and somewhat eclectic education and work history. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1984 and has worked as a draftsman at a nuclear plant, did design work for the Air Force, worked for a printing company, and consulted as an engineer. Patrick’s day gig for the last five years has been teaching high school math in Nashville, TN. He currently makes his home in Nashville with his wonderfully patient wife, Mary, and four sons he thinks are amazing: Patrick, Connor, Daniel, and Ethan. Sometime in the future he would like to be a jazz pianist. Patrick thinks writing about himself in the third person is kind of weird.

Website * Facebook

Blog Tour Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 8/14/13

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Western Roundup #Giveaway Hop : Stepping out of Line #Romance

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Click on image to add on Goodreads

Stepping out of Line

Romance

by Linda Caroll-Bradd

Two years ago Roxie Starr left behind her life as a Vegas showgirl and came home to Wayback, Texas to open a styling salon. She claims she’s there to help with her younger sister, but the truth is age was catching up to her body and the time had come to step out of the chorus line.

Fighting against a nagging injury, Dev Laredo is determined to finish one last rodeo. He won’t return to his Oklahoma ranch until he’s won enough to cover his brother’s college tuition. The sight of a sassy redhead sparks his interest, but her tender ministrations to his injury touch his lonely heart. Can two bruised souls put aside their differences and give love a fighting chance?

Purchase Links:

TWRP   /  AMAZON  /  BARNES& NOBLE

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